Automated packaging systems are being adopted as warehouses handle growing volumes of small e-commerce orders
Online retail growth is forcing warehouses to rethink one of fulfilmentā€™s most basic costs: the cardboard box.
The rise of direct-to-consumer orders has transformed transit packaging from a relatively routine part of store replenishment into a significant operational expense, as businesses handle thousands of individual orders of varying sizes each day.
Traditional packing operations often rely on a fixed range of box sizes, which can leave excess space around products and increase the amount of cardboard and void fill required.
With online volumes continuing to grow, retailers and fulfilment operators are increasingly looking at automation to reduce packaging, labour and transport costs.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show online sales accounted for 27.4% of UK retail spending across 2025, rising to 29.9% during the final quarter.
Meanwhile, Ofcomā€™s 2025 Annual Parcel Report recorded 4.2 billion parcels sent and received by UK consumers during 2024.
That scale has placed greater pressure on warehouses to pick, pack and dispatch smaller orders quickly, while dealing with labour shortages, rising employment costs and tighter environmental requirements.
One approach gaining ground is automated right-size packaging, where each box is produced specifically for the dimensions of the order being dispatched.
Packaging technology company Packsize is among the businesses developing systems designed to produce boxes on demand rather than relying on predetermined carton sizes.
Its automated and semi-automated systems manufacture corrugated packaging around individual orders, with the company saying customers can reduce the amount of empty space inside parcels by an average of 40%.
Packsize offers systems aimed at operations ranging from businesses processing relatively low volumes of differently sized products to major e-commerce warehouses handling large peaks in demand.
Its higher-throughput systems can produce and seal as many as 1,300 packages an hour, according to the company.
The technology can also be incorporated into different warehouse picking strategies, including both box-first and box-last operations.
In a box-first process, a correctly sized tray can be produced before the item is picked, allowing goods to be placed directly into their final packaging before a lid is added.
Packsize says this approach can remove the need for plastic picking totes in some operations and give warehouses greater flexibility when handling single and multi-item orders.
Across its installations, the company reports average corrugated material savings of around 30%, reductions in package volume of up to 40% and roughly 80% less void fill.
It says fully automated systems can also achieve output equivalent to around 20 manual packing stations, although results depend on the products being handled, order profiles and the existing warehouse operation.
Smaller parcels could also have implications beyond the packing line.
Packsize says average box-size reductions of around 40% can allow more parcels to be loaded onto each vehicle, potentially reducing the number of journeys required alongside fuel use and associated emissions.
The company provides systems for both existing warehouses and new-build fulfilment centres.
For existing operations, equipment can be integrated into current warehouse processes, while new facilities can incorporate packaging into the wider material-flow design from the outset.
Packsize also says its systems can connect with warehouse management software, allowing automated packaging to become part of the wider picking and fulfilment process.
As e-commerce continues to account for a significant share of UK retail spending, pressure to remove unused space, packaging material and manual handling from parcel fulfilment is likely to keep right-size technology firmly on the warehouse automation agenda.